Take Charge of Your Online Reputation

Whether we like it or not, we all have beliefs or opinions about us or someone or something. Yes, we all have a reputation that we either embrace or ashamed of. This situation is similar to all businesses, big or small. As a business, your organization’s reputation is based on the past and present actions of your staff and employees and how well customer service is handled.

With the development of digital technology, businesses are now engaging current and potential customers online. This shift has created the need for brands to take good care of their online reputation.

Your online reputation is how people see your brand online. It ranges from your website, social media, and crowd-sourced websites like Yelp. Whether you’ve received negative reviews or are invisible online, now is the time to take control of your brand’s narrative.

Here are some important things to remember about your online reputation management.

• The Internet is now our go-to for everything. Whether it’s looking for the best restaurant, finding your new favorite salon, or directions to your job interview, the world wide web is our BFF. 97% or searchers read online reviews, study shows.
• Online reputation is forever. Good or bad, reviews and opinions about your brand is and will always be on the Internet. It could be a staff review on Glass Door or a customer talking about their experience at your restaurant.

Even with all the digital advancements, technology can’t solve online reputation issues because these are people’s responses or opinions. Search engines only provide results of what we ask for. Brands need online reputation management because:

• When searching, the algorithms in place look for the most popular. Accurate and factual information is not something an algorithm can pick up, but what they can read is popular information.
• Online reputation management focuses on balance. There can be 100s of gossips, rumors, or other clickbait information about your business. The goal is to make sure you’re managing your online reputation by providing informational materials that matter.

Like breathing is important to humans, managing your online reputation is essential to your business. Taking charge of your online reputation is a must to survive the ever-expanding digital jungle.

We’ve collected several ways your brand can control the narrative of their online reputation.

Ask your customers to write reviews

Negative online reviews stand out to people who are researching your product or service. And if you don’t have a lot of reviews, most of your potential customers will only see and read the bad reviews. To avoid such situations, ask your customers to write reviews about your business.

Grow your online presence

The more visible your brand is online, the better you’re able to control your online reputation. Create business profiles on Yelp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Better Business Bureau, or other social media platforms. This enables you to have a platform where you can provide factual information about your business – store location, website, phone number, email address, and/or company culture.

Remove ads from your website

People are tired of seeing pop-up ads or other forms of online ads. Plus, ads on your website, yours or other businesses, hurt your brand’s credibility. It shows you’re only after the money and not really about creating a product that helps consumers better their lives.

Respond to customer complaints

This is your chance to directly engage customers. Take the time to respond to critical reviews. It can be complicated. But when done right, you not only turn a critic into a fan, you also strengthen the loyalty you’ve already established with your current consumers.

Share user-generated content

Consumers love to see brands that are engaged and interact with them. Sharing user-generated photos help improve brand reputation, credibility, and personality. It creates a positive online reputation that is beneficial to your brand.

Ready to take the first steps to control the narrative of your online reputation but don’t know where to start? Contact ULS today!

We’re an all-in-one digital marketing agency that can create a genuine brand experience to grow your business. With our amazing team of designers, copywriters, and analysts, we develop effective online reputation management and other services such as SEO strategies and content and design creation.